A peaceful kingdom ruled by a visionary king; Holy Knights gifted with extraordinary powers at his beck and call; and 7 allegedtraitors who happen to be the strongest knights and most feared warriors in their kingdom.

Elizabeth, the 3rd royal princess flees the castle after it has been seized by the faction of knights who claim to bring peace to their kingdom by annihilating the 7 Deadly sins, powerful knights accused of treason.

With her determination to save the kingdom and his father, she sets out alone, clad in a huge, knight armor in search for the sins, whom she believed are the only ones capable of saving the kingdom from the knights.

REVIEW:

There’s so much I can say about this anime, but I bet it’s better to limit them to the points that stuck with me at the end of this 24-episode series.

And so we have…

7 DEADLY SINS DYNAMIC (Thumbs Up!)

I like this. A lot. It’s not like its the first time we’ve had this dynamic. We have the Homunculus from Fullmetal Alchemist as a good reference to the use of the seven deadly sins. But in here, I’d say it started out stronger. They’re not villains per se.

They were top ranking knights who were accused of treason and were forced out of the kingdom. This alone, already signals a potential conflict. What did they do? Where are they now? Who were the players involved in having them thrown to exile? (Answers to these questions are for you to find out as you go along the series.)

I love the air of mystery they placed on the 7 notorious knights. It provided fuel to the start of the series.

MELIODAS – sin of WRATH (I’d like to know his age, and the story behind his looks.)

BAN – sin of GREED (An immortal with an attitude…and a good love story to tell.)

KING – sin of SLOTH (Looks comfortable with his pillow, deadly with the spear.)

GOWTHER – sin of LUST (Brilliant character, with the looks and brains.)

MERLIN – sin of GLUTTONY (Crafty magician. Look out.)

ESCANOR – sin of PRIDE (We’ll see him soon enough. I hope.)

…and I tell you, they’re an excellent character cocktail.

AWESOME BATTLE SCENES (Thumbs Up!)

I got to give it to the animators of this series, to Nakaba Suzuki -sensei for the illustration and the whole team who’s responsible for the awesome display of action-packed episodes. There wasn’t any dull moments especially when battle is involved, and since majority of the episodes are dominated by fights, you can just imagine how exciting it had been.

“Ne, Ban….how’s this feel?”

They battle with the intent to kill. And even at that, you can’t help but enjoy it. Kudos to the vibrant touch of colors that reduced the impact of too much blood….especially when Ban’s involved.

Missed the spear by a mere inch….nice dodge, Gilthunder…

Best fights? There are many good ones. But few stood out, and you shouldn’t miss them;

BAN VS. KING

MELIODAS VS. BAN

GILTHUNDER VS. HENDRICKSON

GUILA VS. MELIODAS, KING & BAN

MELIODAS, BAN, KING & GOWTHER VS. DAWN’S ROAR

MELIODAS VS. HENDRICKSON

“Sin of Wrath Meliodas VS. Sin of Greed, Ban

All-out battle with flashy techniques and outfit, and you can’t just take your eyes off them.

7 SINS VS. HOLY KNIGHTS (Okay desu!)

This isn’t definitely the best rivalry present in the series. It’s supposed to, I think. But it just didn’t show it. Yes, the holy knights were committed to killing the sins. Yet, the other party doesn’t seem to display the same commitment, which can be translated to a one-sided chase, with the holy knights and their devotion to their servitude, and Meliodas’s casual journey to finding the rest.

White Fangs (Holy Knights)

Still, it’s good to see them put up a good fight when situation calls for it.

FAST-PACED STORYTELLING (Okay desu!)

WARNING: This isn’t the anime for those who are looking for a tightly-knitted plot, with lots of emotional ups and downs and ground-breaking revelations. This isn’t something that will make you interact mentally with the characters and stitch out different chunks of information from the past episodes so you can add it on the present one you are watching.

If you are looking for that kind of story, then by all means, watch something else.

Kidding. But seriously, the story is linear. It’s goal is pointed at one direction. It’s like riding a car with all those bumps and turns but minus that extra roads on the sides that can lead to a different place. The destination is right in front. You just need to drive.

Sounds boring, isn’t it?

What I think made this anime difficult to abandon midway is the fast pace storytelling. It’s not dragging. Things happen when it happens. Yes, you know where it’s going, but there’s a lot of fun and events that happen along the way.

…and you can’t just leave. It’s like eating the dessert ahead of the main course. Sweet, but lacking.

I know, I sound judgmental. But I’ve watched the entire 1st season and I just don’t think Elizabeth makes a good heroine.

She’s a runaway princess, yes. And her decision to find the 7 deadly sins to rescue her kingdom (Liones) and family sounds heroic. I got interested with her determination, I admit. At first.

But really, that’s all she has (apart from a sexy body of course). And the fact that she is always tolerating Meliodias’s harassment is not at all helping to build up her character. There may be times when she attempts to do something (and end up being hurt, because in the first place, she doesn’t know how to fight), to remind us that she’s doing something to help. But seriously? The story will just be fine without getting herself hurt.

Oh, she’s got a surprise near the end. And that’s even worse. The revelation came up as more like a forced thing to aid their obvious disadvantage against Hendrickson.

I mean like, really? Just now?

Elizabeth started out fine. But her importance faded as the story went on. (Really, I’m now interested on what you have to say about her character.)

DEAD NOW, ALIVE LATER (Thumbs Down!)

I’m not pissed.

I just find it hard to think about what had went wrong for the story to be given this kind of treatment. There isn’t much drama in this series. As I’ve said, we’re more like up for more and more battles in here. But when a character dies, he or she (or it) dies.

Helbram dies.Then he’s alive, pestering King.

Unless there’s a very good reason for them to be alive (again), I see no point why they have to be revived again. And that’s exactly what Nanatsu no Taizai did.

One time she dies, next thing you know, she’s alive. It might have been effective if it happened once, or twice. But to repeat the same dynamic more than that will be…..epic fail. And its a notable drawback for the story development.

CHARACTER DEVELOPMENT (Thumbs Down!)

If a story doesn’t show much development, it’s hard to expect the characters to be showing some visible character improvements as well. And that’s exactly what we have on this series. We are treated to awesome fights, interesting characters and a decent goal.

But when it comes to the characters’ attitude, motivation and reaction to all the things that are thrown at them, I see them reacting the same way how they are first introduced. Yes, they have a goal. But I don’t think they sympathize with it, enough to change their mindset and their attitude in dealing with something.